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Video Wars…and How to Win Them!

By Cathi Aradi

Almost all college coaches agree that a good skills video is a very important recruiting tool. Many coaches will want to see your video before they'll make an effort to watch you play in person or consider you a serious candidate for their teams.

Ten to fifteen years ago, players' videos were often somewhat primitive, usually "homemade," and the degree to which they actually showed an athlete's skills varied greatly! These days, however, that's changed. While many parents still shoot their daughter's video themselves, good editing has become commonplace, and families now have access to digital cameras and computer editing programs. Some families even pay substantial amounts of money to have their athlete's video look like a Hollywood production with special effects, music, and title overlays. Players can have their videos shot digitally and a complete resume, schedule, and other information included. Precision editing, slow motion, and freeze frames are just a click of the mouse away.

For the most part, videos posted on YouTube or other Internet sites have replaced DVD’s (although you may still find a coach here and there who requests you send a DVD.) Internet posting of your video usually costs nothing and eliminates both reproduction and mailing costs. Coaches can simply go to a web-hosting page and click on the video they want to screen.

Once you've decided to shoot a skills video, how can you make yours stand out? After all, the coach watching it may well have 100 other videos waiting to be screened.

Believe it or not, special effects have nothing to do with getting you noticed. Obviously you don't want a video full of fuzz, bad shots, and a coach yelling at you in the background. So some skilled editing is usually necessary. But the pounding music overlay and other cinematic wizardry won’t make a coach say, “I want this player!”

My book, Preparing to Play Softball at the Collegiate Level, can help guide you through the planning and shooting process. You can also pay someone to shoot your video, although I don’t think this is something you have to do in order to get a good one. I do, however, recommend a good editor (e.g., one who knows how to take the raw footage and cut it down so that it shows your skills effectively.) You don't want to send a coach 35 minutes of unedited video.

Special effects and format aside, however, there is a key ingredient that many players leave out of their videos that has nothing to do with their athletic ability. That is their passion for the game.

WHY you are making a video? Presumably, it's because you hope to play softball in college. Okay, WHY do you want to play ball in college? If you’re thinking about playing in college for the scholarship money or because your parents or coaches want you to play, then perhaps you should focus just on college and not worry about softball. You’re probably pursuing college softball for the wrong reasons.

If, however, you want to play college ball because you love the game so much you can’t imagine not playing, your video needs to show this. When a coach watches your video or CD, he or she should be left with the feeling that you are really passionate about softball!

Can I honestly say a video from an extremely gifted and athletic player who looks like she hates softball and everything associated with it will always be compared unfavorably to a video from an average player who's having tons of fun? No, I can't. But if I was trying to distinguish between ten similar players’ videos, the video full of smiles and laughter and a person happy to be at the ball park is the one I’d be most likely to remember.

Why do so many videos look like someone is standing just off camera with a shotgun pointed at the athlete’s head? Well, between parents going buggy on you and you thinking if you’re not perfect on camera you won’t ever get recruited, it can be very hard to have a good time out there. (And now I’m telling you to have fun too!)

That’s why I stress making your video as a junior, planning ahead, and allowing lots of time to shoot the raw footage. Don't show up after working the midnight shift at the cineplex and expect to get your video done in an hour. Don't expect to hit every ball over the fence, to never miss a throw or to have every pitch be a strike. Players should gently encourage their parents to relax, and then try to do the same themselves. Through the miracle of modern editing, we can take out the section where you fell down--twice! We can also remove the shot with your mom’s voice in the background going on and on about how you hit the double that won the tournament last Sunday!

Editing forgives mistakes, dead time, balls in the dirt, and the ten minutes your dad spent screaming in pain after you nailed him in the shin with a line drive. But editing cannot put a smile on your face. Nor can it make you hustle and show coaches how competitive you are and how much this game means to you. That has to come from within. If I could give you one piece of advice on how to make your video stick with a coach long after he turns off the computer, it would be to play with 100% of your heart.

It's okay to giggle, to laugh, to be silly in your introduction or even on the field. It’s possible to be intense and relaxed at the same time. It is not possible to be uptight and relaxed, and it’s not possible to be miserable and look like you're having fun unless you’re an Oscar-winning actor. SO...if you can’t enjoy making your video as much you would playing in the big game, maybe you should wait and do it on another day. Or maybe you don’t really want to be doing this at all. Remember, your love of the game should be your best marketing tool!